Our Banish blend was created for times of transformation – for letting go of what no longer serves us and making space for something new.
The idea of transformation is an ancient one. It appears in early philosophies, religious traditions, mythology and more. Over 2,000 years ago, the Roman poet Ovid made transformation the heart of his Metamorphoses, which brings together hundreds of ancient tales through the lens of change. He observes it in nature, in the body, in love, lust and death. And the message is clear: the only constant is change.
Tales of Transformation from Ovid’s Metamorphoses:
Seaweed/Coral
When the Greek hero Perseus decapitated the Gorgon Medusa, he worried about bruising her snake-covered head. To avoid damaging it, he laid it gently upon a bed of seaweed. The fronds absorbed Medusa’s power and swiftly transformed into coral. Fascinated, the onlooking sea nymphs tested the transformation on more seaweed, then scattered its seeds throughout the ocean.
Daphne/Laurel Tree
'Daphne with Coral Tines' A Late-Renaissance goldsmith sculpture designed by Wenzel Jamnitzer and crafted by Abraham Jamnitzer in Nuremberg around 1579–1586
The nymph Daphne wanted nothing to do with love, but after Apollo was struck by Cupid’s arrow, he became consumed with desire for her. He pursued Daphne through the woods until, exhausted and with Apollo close behind, she called to her father, the river god Peneus, for help. Her skin hardened into bark, her arms stretched into branches and her feet took root in the earth. Daphne had become a bay leaf tree.
Ceyx & Alcyone/Seabird
When Ceyx was lost at sea during a violent storm, his wife Alcyone knew nothing of his death and continued to pray for his safe return. The gods took pity on her, sending a dream to reveal what had happened. When Alcyone later found Ceyx’s body washed ashore, she ran towards him and leapt into the sea. As she did, wings appeared at her sides and she became a seabird. The gods transformed Ceyx too, allowing the pair to remain together in their new form.
Narcissus
Echo & Narcissus by John Waterhouse. 1903.
Narcissus was famed for his extraordinary beauty, but rejected everyone who fell in love with him. As punishment, he was made to fall in love with someone he could never possess: his own reflection in a pool of water. Unable to tear himself away, Narcissus slowly wasted away until all that remained in his place was a flower with white petals and a golden centre – the narcissus.
The Heliades/Poplar trees & amber
After their brother Phaethon was struck from the sky by Jupiter, his sisters, the Heliades, gathered by the river to mourn him. For months they wept at its banks, until their feet took root in the earth, their bodies became trunks and their arms stretched into branches. The sisters had become poplar trees, but their tears continued to fall, hardening in the sunlight into drops of amber.